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STAR CHARTS FOR COTTAGE & CAMPSITE VIEWING SkyNews JULY/AUGUST 2013 The Canadian Magazine of Astronomy & Stargazing SUMMER STARGAZING ISSUE Follow a Trio of Planets and the Moon Catch the Perseid Meteors at Their Best 5 ‘Killer Apps’ for Campsite Stargazing Kepler’s Latest Planet Finds and Rethinking the Habitable Zone Stellar Evolution in One Night Venus’s Unsolved Mystery CLOSE UP OF CENTRAL REGION OF TRIFID NEBULA IN SAGITTARIUS visit skynews.ca CONTENTS JULY/AUGUST 2013 Volume XIX/Issue 2 COLUMNS 36 07 EDITOR’S REPORT TERENCE DICKINSON Contemplating Your Universe Whether in a group or as solitary observers, astronomy enthusiasts embrace nature’s tapestry of a starry night 20 WILDERNESS ASTRONOMER PETER M C MAHON Five ‘killer apps’ for stargazing at a campsite Gear doesn't always get in the way of enjoying Canada’s wild skies. It can enhance the experience. 39 ON THE MOON GARY SERONIK The Smallest Crater Have you ever wondered which of the Moon’s myriad craters is the smallest? 44 OTHER WORLDS RAY VILLARD Habitable Zone Questions In April, NASA announced that the Kepler planet- hunting spacecraft had detected two super- Earth-class planets within the habitable zone around the star Kepler-62 46 NORTHERN NIGHTS KEN HEWITT=WHITE Ken’s Photon Phobia Nightfall. Clear. I was in my backyard patiently observing with my telescope when a little breeze came up. Oh, no! 46 14 18 FEATURES 14 GALACTIC ASTRONOMY CHART AND TEXT BY GLENN L E DREW OBSERVING THE CYCLE OF STELLAR EVOLUTION Take a tour of the star-formation process, from birth through death, in just a single night! 18 GALLERY RARE CELESTIAL SIGHTS A colourful lakeside aurora zapped by a spectacular bolide—what a shot! DEPARTMENTS 26 EXPLORING THE NIGHT SKY BY ALAN DYER A PLANET DANCE AND PERSEIDS Three planets and the Moon cluster in the dawn sky, while the annual Perseid meteor shower peaks under nearly perfect conditions 10 LETTERS 22 SCOPING THE SKY KEN HEWITT=WHITE Summer Icon: Eagle Nebula Behold the Eagle Nebula, 6,500 light-years from Earth. Pale but enticing, the Eagle is a telescopic treat when scrutinized from a dark observing site. 24 STAR CHART Night Sky for Summer for Canada and the Northern United States 32 PHOTO TIPS BY ALAN DYER SHOOTING THE SHOOTING STARS Here are the main techniques for capturing a multitude of meteors. For the best results, seek out a dark site with an open view to the northeast and no bright urban glow on the horizon. VISIT US AT SkyNews.ca COVER: The Trifid Nebula (M20), in the constellation Sagittarius, is a hotbed of new star formation (see feature article begin- ning on page 14). IMAGE PROCESSING BY ROBERT GENDLER USING IMAGE DATA FROM SUBARU TELESCOPE, HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE AND MARTIN PUGH 34 GALLERY HALO AND HORSEHEAD In the hands of our readers, today’s DSLR and CCD cameras, combined with remarkable processing software, can yield astonishing results 36 VISUAL PLANETARY ENIGMA BY WILLIAM SHEEHAN AND KLAUS BRASCH THE ‘LOCH NESS’ OF VENUS The strange saga of the Ashen Light of Venus SkyNews www. khanscope .co Æ Summer dealS! The Canadian Magazine of Astronomy & Stargazing VOLUME XIX, ISSUE 2 Founding Publisher Canada Science and Technology Museum Editor Terence Dickinson E-mail address editor@skynews.ca Fax 613-377-1080 Art Director Janice McLean Associate Editor Alan Dyer Assistant Editors Todd Carlson, Christine Kulyk Editorial Assistant Jody Morgan Production Manager Susan Dickinson Contributing Editors Glenn LeDrew, David H. Levy, Peter McMahon, Ivan Semeniuk, Gary Seronik, Ray Villard, Ken Hewitt-White tH M t90 potL ovto has been voted by Sky Telescope magazine as a ot Product 2013 the Meade t90 portable observatory is a little scope thats IG on features! Nw! ioptoN ktk For L imaging up to 3k Fits standard video tripod polar scope included Contributing Astrophotographers Lynn Hilborn, Yuichi Takasaka Publisher Greg Keilty Associate Publisher Colleen Moloney Advertising Sales Greg Keilty 613-966-6225 Customer Service Denise Havers 1-866-759-0005 service@skynews.ca www.skynews.ca Subscriptions One year $26, two years $42 (plus sales tax); U.S. addresses: one year US$26; two years US$42; International: US$33 per year. A subscription to SkyNews includes membership as an Astronomy Associate of the Canada Science and Technology Museum. 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Sorry, no phone orders please. • Letters to the Editor: We welcome letters, especially letters about your astronomy and stargazing experiences. E-mail: editor@skynews.ca • Submitting photographs: We welcome submissions of astronomi- cal photos taken by our readers. Digital images by e-mail should be sent in jpeg format to editor@skynews.ca • Submitting articles: Please request our writers’ guidelines. Mail: SkyNews Editor, Box 10, Yarker, ON K0K 3N0 E-mail: editor@skynews.ca t, t, LL out It! The latest in equatorial mount technology is almost here oMt HuNt LIGHt! elestron kyMaster 20 x 80 inoculars ak 4 prisms uilt-in tripod adapter Multicoated optics Long eye reliefideal for eyeglass wearers! tLvu pI ven better than you imagined! Nw! ky-watcher high-precision 8 equatorial mount with yncan, Gp and portable pier arries up to payload! AllmAjorbrAndsinclding strotrac Meade elestron tele vue kowa oronado M ky-watcher Nikon kendrick william optics ntares Hotech Farpoint aader ioptron telrad teleGizmos orion vixen MoonLite xplore cientific Mallinam igel tarlight Inst Lunt I It Servng begnnerS and advanced amateurS we SP canada wde | we accePt trade-nS wde Selecton of new and uSed equPment we service and repair most brands of telescopes and binoculars or local 416-783-4140 1-800-580-7160 or order onlne va our Secure web Server at www.khanscope.com to order toll-free, call Æ vSt Kan ScoPe centre 3243dufferinstreetorontoonmA22 emailinfo@khanscope.com facebook.com/khanscope our Sowroom! over 70 ScoPeS on dSPlay SkyNews has gone digital! Subscribe to our digital edition at ©2013 SKYNEWS INC. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from SkyNews . 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